Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
on the Whole Bible

The apostle, in this chapter, is still carrying on the same general
design as in the former--to recover these Christians from the
impressions made upon them by the judaizing teachers, and to represent
their weakness and folly in suffering themselves to be drawn away from
the gospel doctrine of justification, and to be deprived of their
freedom from the bondage of the law of Moses. For this purpose he makes
use of various considerations; such as,
I. The great excellence of the gospel state above the legal,
ver. 1-7.
II. The happy change that was made in them at their conversion,
ver. 8-11.
III. The affection they had had for him and his ministry,
ver. 12-16.
IV. The character of the false teachers by whom they had been perverted,
ver. 17, 18.
V. The very tender affection he had for them,
ver. 19, 20.
VI. The history of Isaac and Ishmael, by a comparison taken from which
he illustrates the difference between such as rested in Christ and such
as trusted in the law. And in all these, as he uses great plainness and
faithfulness with them, so he expresses the tenderest concern for
them.

The Redemption by Christ.

A. D. 56.

1 Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child,
differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of
the father.
3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the
elements of the world:
4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his
Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive
the adoption of sons.
6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of
his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a
son, then a heir of God through Christ.

In this chapter the apostle deals plainly with those who hearkened to
the judaizing teachers, who cried up the law of Moses in competition
with the gospel of Christ, and endeavored to bring them under the
bondage of it. To convince them of their folly, and to rectify their
mistake herein, in these verses he prosecutes the comparison of a child
under age, which he had touched upon in the foregoing chapter, and
thence shows what great advantages we have now, under the gospel, above
what they had under the law. And here.

I. He acquaints us with the state of the Old-Testament church: it was
like a child under age, and it was used accordingly, being kept in a
state of darkness and bondage, in comparison of the greater light and
liberty which we enjoy under the gospel. That was indeed a
dispensation of grace, and yet it was comparatively a dispensation of
darkness; for as the heir, in his minority, is under tutors and
governors till the time appointed of his father, by whom he is
educated and instructed in those things which at present he knows
little of the meaning of, though afterwards they are likely to be of
great use to him; so it was with the Old-Testament church--the Mosaic
economy, which they were under, was what they could not fully
understand the meaning of; for, as the apostle says
(2 Cor. iii. 13),
They could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is
abolished. But to the church, when grown up to maturity, in gospel
days, it becomes of great use. And as that was a dispensation of
darkness, so of bondage too; for they were in bondage under the
elements of the world, being tied to a great number of burdensome
rites and observances, by which, as by a kind of first rudiments, they
were taught and instructed, and whereby they were kept in a state of
subjection, like a child under tutors and governors. The church then
lay more under the character of a servant, being obliged to do
every thing according to the command of God, without being fully
acquainted with the reason of it; but the service under the gospel
appears to be more reasonable than that was. The time appointed of the
Father having come, when the church was to arrive at its full age, the
darkness and bondage under which it before lay are removed, and we are
under a dispensation of greater light and liberty.

II. He acquaints us with the much happier state of Christians under the
gospel-dispensation,
v. 4-7.
When the fulness of time had come, the time appointed of the
Father, when he would put an end to the legal dispensation, and set up
another and a better in the room of it, he sent forth his Son,
&c. The person who was employed to introduce this new dispensation was
no other than the Son of God himself, the only-begotten of the Father,
who, as he had been prophesied of and promised from the foundation of
the world, so in due time he was manifested for this purpose. He, in
pursuance of the great design he had undertaken, submitted to be
made of a woman--there is his incarnation; and to be made
under the law--there is his subjection. He who was truly God for
our sakes became man; and he who was Lord of all consented to come into
a state of subjection and to take upon him the form of a servant; and
one great end of all this was to redeem those that were under the
law--to save us from that intolerable yoke and to appoint gospel
ordinances more rational and easy. He had indeed something more and
greater in his view, in coming into the world, than merely to deliver
us from the bondage of the ceremonial law; for he came in our nature,
and consented to suffer and die for us, that hereby he might redeem us
from the wrath of God, and from the curse of the moral law, which, as
sinners, we all lay under. But that was one end of it, and a mercy
reserved to be bestowed at the time of his manifestation; then the more
servile state of the church was to come to a period, and a better to
succeed in the place of it; for he was sent to redeem us, that we
might receive the adoption of sons--that we might no longer be
accounted and treated as servants, but as sons grown up to maturity,
who are allowed greater freedoms, and admitted to larger privileges,
than while they were under tutors and governors. This the course of the
apostle's argument leads us to take notice of, as one thing intended by
this expression, though no doubt it may also be understood as
signifying that gracious adoption which the gospel so often speaks of
as the privilege of those who believe in Christ. Israel was God's son,
his first-born,
Rom. ix. 4.
But now, under the gospel, particular believers receive the adoption;
and, as an earnest and evidence of it, they have together therewith the
Spirit of adoption, putting them upon the duty of prayer, and enabling
them in prayer to eye God as a Father
(v. 6):
Because you are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into
your hearts, crying Abba, Father. And hereupon
(v. 7)
the apostle concludes this argument by adding, Wherefore thou art no
more a servant, but a son; and, if a son, then an heir of God through
Christ; that is, Now, under the gospel state, we are no longer
under the servitude of the law, but, upon our believing in Christ,
become the sons of God; we are thereupon accepted of him, and adopted
by him; and, being the sons, we are also heirs of God, and are entitled
to the heavenly inheritance (as he also reasons
Rom. viii. 17),
and therefore it must needs be the greatest weakness and folly to turn
back to the law, and to seek justification by the works of it. From
what the apostle says in
these verses,
we may observe,

1. The wonders of divine love and mercy towards us, particularly of God
the Father, in sending his Son into the world to redeem and save us,--of
the Son of God, in submitting so low, and suffering so much, for us, in
pursuance of that design,--and of the Holy Spirit, in condescending to
dwell in the hearts of believers for such gracious purposes.

2. The great and invaluable advantages which Christians enjoy under the
gospel; for,
(1.) We receive the adoption of sons. Whence note, It is the
great privilege which believers have through Christ that they are
adopted children of the God of heaven. We who by nature are children of
wrath and disobedience have become by grace children of love.
(2.) We receive the Spirit of adoption. Note,
[1.] All who have the privilege of adoption have the Spirit of
adoption--all who are received into the number partake of the nature of
the children of God; for he will have all his children to resemble him.
[2.] The Spirit of adoption is always the Spirit of prayer, and it is
our duty in prayer to eye God as a Father. Christ has taught us in
prayer to eye God as our Father in heaven.
[3.] If we are his sons, then his heirs. It is not so among men, with
whom the eldest son is heir; but all God's children are heirs. Those
who have the nature of sons shall have the inheritance of sons.

Affectionate Remonstrance.

A. D. 56.

8 Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them
which by nature are no gods.
9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of
God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements,
whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in
vain.

In these verses the apostle puts them in mind of what they were before
their conversion to the faith of Christ, and what a blessed change
their conversion had made upon them; and thence endeavours to convince
them of their great weakness in hearkening to those who would bring
them under the bondage of the law of Moses.

I. He reminds them of their past state and behaviour, and what they
were before the gospel was preached to them. Then they knew not
God; they were grossly ignorant of the true God, and the way
wherein he is to be worshipped: and at that time they were under the
worst of slaveries, for they did service to those which by nature
were no gods, they were employed in a great number of superstitious
and idolatrous services to those who, though they were accounted gods,
were yet really no gods, but mere creatures, and perhaps of their own
making, and therefore were utterly unable to hear and help them. Note,
1. Those who are ignorant of the true God cannot but be inclined to
false gods. Those who forsook the God who made the world, rather than
be without gods, worshipped such as they themselves made.
2. Religious worship is due to none but to him who is by nature God;
for, when the apostle blames the doing service to such as by nature
were no gods, he plainly shows that he only who is by nature God is the
proper object of our religious worship.

II. He calls upon them to consider the happy change that was made in
them by the preaching of the gospel among them. Now they had known
God (they were brought to the knowledge of the true God and of his
Son Jesus Christ, whereby they were recovered out of the ignorance and
bondage under which they before lay) or rather were known of
God; this happy change in their state, whereby they were turned
from idols to the living God, and through Christ had received the
adoption of sons, was not owing to themselves, but to him; it was the
effect of his free and rich grace towards them, and as such they ought
to account it; and therefore hereby they were laid under the greater
obligation to adhere to the liberty wherewith he had made them free.
Note, All our acquaintance with God begins with him; we know him,
because we are known of him.

III. Hence he infers the unreasonableness and madness of their
suffering themselves to be brought again into a state of bondage. He
speaks of it with surprise and deep concern of mind that such as they
should do so: How turn you again, &c., says he,
v. 9.
"How is it that you, who have been taught to worship God in the gospel
way, should not be persuaded to comply with the ceremonial way of
worship? that you, who have been acquainted with a dispensation of
light, liberty, and love, as that of the gospel is, should now submit
to a dispensation of darkness, and bondage, and terror, as that of the
law is?" This they had the less reason for, since they had never been
under the law of Moses, as the Jews had been; and therefore on this
account they were more inexcusable than the Jews themselves, who might
be supposed to have some fondness for that which had been of such long
standing among them. Besides, what they suffered themselves to be
brought into bondage to were but weak and beggarly elements,
such things as had no power in them to cleanse the soul, nor to afford
any solid satisfaction to the mind, and which were only designed for
that state of pupillage under which the church had been, but which had
now come to a period; and therefore their weakness and folly were the
more aggravated, in submitting to them, and in symbolizing with the
Jews in observing their various festivals, here signified by days,
and months, and times, and years. Here note,
1. It is possible for those who have made great professions of religion
to be afterwards drawn into very great defections from the purity and
simplicity of it, for this was the case of these Christians. And,
2. The more mercy God has shown to any, in bringing them into an
acquaintance with the gospel, and the liberties and privileges of it,
the greater are their sin and folly in suffering themselves to be
deprived of them; for this the apostle lays a special stress upon, that
after they had known God, or rather were known of him, they desired to
be in bondage under the weak and beggarly elements of the law.

IV. Hereupon he expresses his fears concerning them, lest he had
bestowed on them labour in vain. He had been at a great deal of
pains about them, in preaching the gospel to them, and endeavouring to
confirm them in the faith and liberty of it; but now they were giving
up these, and thereby rendering his labour among them fruitless and
ineffectual, and with the thoughts of this he could not but be deeply
affected. Note,
1. A great deal of the labour of faithful ministers is labour in vain;
and, when it is so, it cannot but be a great grief to those who desire
the salvation of souls. Note,
2. The labour of ministers is in vain upon those who begin in the
Spirit and end in the flesh, who, though they seem to set out well, yet
afterwards turn aside from the way of the gospel. Note,
3. Those will have a great deal to answer for upon whom the faithful
ministers of Jesus Christ bestow labour in vain.

Affectionate Remonstrance.

A. D. 56.

12 Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye
are: ye have not injured me at all.
13 Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the
gospel unto you at the first.
14 And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor
rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ
Jesus.
15 Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you
record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked
out your own eyes, and have given them to me.
16 Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the
truth?

That these Christians might be the more ashamed of their defection from
the truth of the gospel which Paul had preached to them, he here
reminds them of the great affection they formerly had for him and his
ministry, and puts them upon considering how very unsuitable their
present behaviour was to what they then professed. And here we may
observe,

I. How affectionately he addresses himself to them. He styles them
brethren, though he knew their hearts were in a great measure alienated
from him. He desires that all resentments might be laid aside, and that
they would bear the same temper of mind towards him which he did to
them; he would have them to be as he was, for he was as they
were, and moreover tells them that they had not injured him at
all. He had no quarrel with them upon his own account. Though, in
blaming their conduct, he had expressed himself with some warmth and
concern of mind he assured them that it was not owing to any sense of
personal injury or affront (as they might be ready to think), but
proceeded wholly from a zeal for the truth and purity of the gospel,
and their welfare and happiness. Thus he endeavours to mollify their
spirits towards him, that so they might be the better disposed to
receive the admonitions he was giving them. Hereby he teaches us that
in reproving others we should take care to convince them that our
reproofs do not proceed from any private pique or resentment, but from
a sincere regard to the honour of God and religion and their truest
welfare; for they are then likely to be most successful when they
appear to be most disinterested.

II. How he magnifies their former affection to him, that hereby they
might be the more ashamed of their present behaviour towards him. To
this purpose,
1. He puts them in mind of the difficulty under which he laboured when
he came first among them: I knew, says he, how, through
infirmity of the flesh, I preached the gospel unto you at the
first. What this infirmity of the flesh was, which in the
following words he expresses by his temptation that was in his
flesh (though, no doubt, it was well known to those Christians to
whom he wrote), we can now have no certain knowledge of: some take it
to have been the persecutions which he suffered for the gospel's sake;
others, to have been something in his person, or manner of speaking,
which might render his ministry less grateful and acceptable, referring
to
2 Cor. x. 10,
and to ch. xii. 7-10.
But, whatever it was, it seems it made no impression on them to his
disadvantage. For,
2. He takes notice that, notwithstanding this his infirmity (which
might possibly lessen him in the esteem of some others), they did not
despise nor reject him on the account of it, but, on the contrary,
received him as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. They
showed a great deal of respect to him, he was a welcome messenger to
them, even as though an angel of God or Jesus Christ himself had
preached to them; yea, so great was their esteem of him, that, if it
would have been any advantage to him, they could have plucked out
their own eyes, and have given them to him. Note, How uncertain the
respects of people are, how apt they are to change their minds, and how
easily they are drawn into contempt of those for whom they once had the
greatest esteem and affection, so that they are ready to pluck out the
eyes of those for whom they would before have plucked out their own! We
should therefore labour to be accepted of God, for it is a small
thing to be judged of man's judgment,1 Cor. iv. 2.

III. How earnestly he expostulates with them hereupon: Where is
then, says he, the blessedness you spoke of? As if he had
said, "Time was when you expressed the greatest joy and satisfaction in
the glad tidings of the gospel, and were very forward in pouring out
your blessings upon me as the publisher of them; whence is it that you
are now so much altered, that you have so little relish of them or
respect for me? You once thought yourselves happy in receiving the
gospel; have you now any reason to think otherwise?" Note, Those who
have left their first love would do well to consider, Where is now the
blessedness they once spoke of? What has become of that pleasure they
used to take in communion with God, and in the company of his servants?
The more to impress upon them a just shame of their present conduct, he
again asks
(v. 16),
"Am I become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? How is it
that I, who was heretofore your favourite, am now accounted your enemy?
Can you pretend any other reason for it than that I have told you the
truth, endeavoured to acquaint you with, and to confirm you in, the
truth of the gospel? And, if not, how unreasonable must your
disaffection be!" Note,
1. It is no uncommon thing for men to account those their enemies who
are really their best friends; for so, undoubtedly, those are, whether
ministers or others, who tell them the truth, and deal freely and
faithfully with them in matters relating to their eternal salvation, as
the apostle now did with these Christians.
2. Ministers may sometimes create enemies to themselves by the faithful
discharge of their duty; for this was the case of Paul, he was
accounted their enemy for telling them the truth.
3. Yet ministers must not forbear speaking the truth, for fear of
offending others and drawing their displeasure upon them.
4. They may be easy in their own minds, when they are conscious to
themselves that, if others have become their enemies, it is only for
telling them the truth.

Affectionate Remonstrance.

A. D. 56.

17 They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would
exclude you, that ye might affect them.
18 But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good
thing, and not only when I am present with you.

The apostle is still carrying on the same design as in the
foregoing verses,
which was, to convince the Galatians of their sin and folly in
departing from the truth of the gospel: having just before been
expostulating with them about the change of their behaviour towards him
who endeavoured to establish them in it, he here gives them the
character of those false teachers who made it their business to draw
them away from it, which if they would attend to, they might soon see
how little reason they had to hearken to them: whatever opinion they
might have of them, he tells them they were designing men, who were
aiming to set up themselves, and who, under their specious pretences,
were more consulting their own interest than theirs: "They zealously
affect you," says he; "they show a mighty respect for you, and
pretend a great deal of affection to you, but not well; they do
it not with any good design, they are not sincere and upright in it,
for they would exclude you, that you might affect them. That
which they are chiefly aiming at is to engage your affections to them;
and, in order to this, they are doing all they can to draw off your
affections from me and from the truth, that so they may engross you to
themselves." This, he assures them, was their design, and therefore
they must needs be very unwise in hearkening to them. Note,
1. There may appear to be a great deal of zeal where yet there is but
little truth and sincerity.
2. It is the usual way of seducers to insinuate themselves into
people's affections, and by that means to draw them into their
opinions.
3. Whatever pretences such may make, they have usually more regard to
their own interest than that of others, and will not stick at ruining
the reputation of others, if by that means they can raise their own. On
this occasion the apostle gives us that excellent rule which we have,
v. 18,
It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing. What
our translation renders in a good man, and so consider the
apostle as pointing to himself; this sense, they think, is favoured
both by the preceding context and also by the words immediately
following, and not only when I am present with you, which may be
as if he had said, "Time was when you were zealously affected towards
me; you once took me for a good man, and have now no reason to think
otherwise of me; surely then it would become you to show the same
regard to me, now that I am absent from you, which you did when I was
present with you." But, if we adhere to our own translation, the
apostle here furnishes us with a very good rule to direct and regulate
us in the exercise of our zeal: there are two things which to this
purpose he more especially recommends to us:--
(1.) That it be exercised only upon that which is good; for zeal is
then only good when it is in a good thing: those who are zealously
affected to that which is evil will thereby only to do so much the more
hurt. And,
(2.) That herein it be constant and steady: it is good to be zealous
always in a good thing; not for a time only, or now and then, like the
heat of an ague-fit, but, like the natural heat of the body, constant.
Happy would it be for the church of Christ if this rule were better
observed among Christians!

Affectionate Remonstrance.

A. D. 56.

19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until
Christ be formed in you,
20 I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice;
for I stand in doubt of you.

That the apostle might the better dispose these Christians to bear with
him in the reproofs which he was obliged to give them, he here
expresses his great affection to them, and the very tender concern he
had for their welfare: he was not like them--one thing when among them
and another when absent from them. Their disaffection to him had not
removed his affection from them; but he still bore the same respect to
them which he had formerly done, nor was he like their false teachers,
who pretended a great deal of affection to them, when at the same time
they were only consulting their own interest; but he had a sincere
concern for their truest advantage; he sought not theirs, but them.
They were too ready to account him their enemy, but he assures them
that he was their friend; nay, not only so, but that he had the bowels
of a parent towards them. He calls them his children, as he
justly might, since he had been the instrument of their conversion to
the Christian faith; yea, he styles them his little children,
which, as it denotes a greater degree of tenderness and affection to
them, so it may possibly have a respect to their present behaviour,
whereby they showed themselves too much like little children, who are
easily wrought upon by the arts and insinuations of others. He
expresses his concern for them, and earnest desire of their welfare and
soul-prosperity, by the pangs of a travailing woman: He travailed in
birth for them: and the great thing which he was in so much pain
about, and which he was so earnestly desirous of, was not so much that
they might affect him as that Christ might be formed in them,
that they might become Christians indeed, and be more confirmed and
established in the faith of the gospel. From this we may note,
1. The very tender affection which faithful ministers bear towards
those among whom they are employed; it is like that of the most
affectionate parents to their little children.
2. That the chief thing they are longing and even travailing in birth
for, on their account, is that Christ may be formed in them; not so
much that they may gain their affections, much less that they may make
a prey of them, but that they may be renewed in the spirit of their
minds, wrought into the image of Christ, and more fully settled and
confirmed in the Christian faith and life: and how unreasonably must
those people act who suffer themselves to be prevailed upon to desert
or dislike such ministers!
3. That Christ is not fully formed in men till they are brought off
from trusting in their own righteousness, and made to rely only upon
him and his righteousness.

As further evidence of the affection and concern which the apostle had
for these Christians, he adds
(v. 20)
that he desired to be then present with them--that he would be
glad of an opportunity of being among them, and conversing with them,
and that thereupon he might find occasion to change his voice
towards them; for at present he stood in doubt of them. He knew
not well what to think of them. He was not so fully acquainted with
their state as to know how to accommodate himself to them. He was full
of fears and jealousies concerning them, which was the reason of his
writing to them in such a manner as he had done; but he would be glad
to find that matters were better with them than he feared, and that he
might have occasion to commend them, instead of thus reproving and
chiding them. Note, Though ministers too often find it necessary to
reprove those they have to do with, yet this is no grateful work to
them; they had much rather there were no occasion for it, and are
always glad when they can see reason to change their voice towards
them.

Affectionate Remonstrance.

A. D. 56.

21 Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear
the law?
22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a
bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh;
but he of the freewoman was by promise.
24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two
covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to
bondage, which is Agar.
25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to
Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of
us all.
27 For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not;
break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate
hath many more children than she which hath a husband.
28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him
that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the
bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be
heir with the son of the freewoman.
31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but
of the free.

In these verses the apostle illustrates the difference between
believers who rested in Christ only and those judaizers who trusted in
the law, by a comparison taken from the story of Isaac and Ishmael.
This he introduces in such a manner as was proper to strike and impress
their minds, and to convince them of their great weakness in departing
from the truth, and suffering themselves to be deprived of the liberty
of the gospel: Tell me, says he, you that desire to be under
the law, do you not hear the law? He takes it for granted that they
did hear the law, for among the Jews it was wont to be read in their
public assemblies every sabbath day; and, since they were so very fond
of being under it, he would have them duly to consider what is written
therein (referring to what is recorded
Gen. xvi. and xxi.),
for, if they would do this, they might soon see how little reason they
had to trust in it. And here,
1. He sets before them the history itself
(v. 22, 23):
For it is written, Abraham had two sons, &c. Here he represents
the different state and condition of these two sons of Abraham--that the
one, Ishmael, was by a bond-maid, and the other, Isaac, by a
free-woman; and that whereas the former was born after the
flesh, or by the ordinary course of nature, the other was by
promise, when in the course of nature there was no reason to expect
that Sarah should have a son.
2. He acquaints them with the meaning and design of this history, or
the use which he intended to make of it
(v. 24-27):
These things, says he, are an allegory, wherein, besides
the literal and historical sense of the words, the Spirit of God might
design to signify something further to us, and that was, That these
two, Agar and Sarah, are the two covenants, or were intended to
typify and prefigure the two different dispensations of the covenant.
The former, Agar, represented that which was given from mount Sinai,
and which gendereth to bondage, which, though it was a
dispensation of grace, yet, in comparison of the gospel state, was a
dispensation of bondage, and became more so to the Jews, through their
mistake of the design of it, and expecting to be justified by the works
of it. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia (mount Sinai was
then called Agar by the Arabians), and it answereth to Jerusalem
which now is, and is in bondage with her children; that is, it
justly represents the present state of the Jews, who, continuing in
their infidelity and adhering to that covenant, are still in bondage
with their children. But the other, Sarah, was intended to prefigure
Jerusalem which is above, or the state of Christians under the new and
better dispensation of the covenant, which is free both from the curse
of the moral and the bondage of the ceremonial law, and is the
mother of us all--a state into which all, both Jews and Gentiles,
are admitted, upon their believing in Christ. And to this greater
freedom and enlargement of the church under the gospel dispensation,
which was typified by Sarah the mother of the promised seed, the
apostle refers that of the prophet,
Isa. liv. 1,
where it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break
forth and cry, thou that travailest not; for the desolate hath many
more children than she who hath a husband.
3. He applies the history thus explained to the present case
(v. 28);
Now we, brethren, says he, as Isaac was, are the children of
the promise. We Christians, who have accepted Christ, and rely upon
him, and look for justification and salvation by him alone, as hereby
we become the spiritual, though we are not the natural, seed of
Abraham, so we are entitled to the promised inheritance and interested
in the blessings of it. But lest these Christians should be stumbled at
the opposition they might meet with from the Jews, who were so
tenacious of their law as to be ready to persecute those who would not
submit to it, he tells them that this was no more than what was pointed
to in the type; for as then he that was born after the flesh
persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, they must expect it
would be so now. But, for their comfort in this case, he desires
them to consider what the scripture saith
(Gen. xxi. 10),
Cast out the bond-woman and her son, for the son of the bond-woman
shall not be heir with the son of the free-woman. Though the
judaizers should persecute and hate them, yet the issue would be that
Judaism would sink, and wither, and perish; but true Christianity
should flourish and last for ever. And then, as a general inference
from the whole of the sum of what he had said, he concludes
(v. 31),
So then, brethren, we are not children of the bond-woman, but of the
free.